


Counting on Fate

by Ainaver



Category: Magic: The Gathering (Card Game)
Genre: F/M, Ixalan (Magic: The Gathering), Magical Tattoos, Mention of Scars and short mention of physical abuse, Soulmate AU, The Belligerent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-24
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2021-02-17 21:49:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21550321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ainaver/pseuds/Ainaver
Summary: Since the first day he had woken up on the first island Jace had not spend much thought about the small little tattoo on his right wrist. The big white lines which marked most of his body were a much more interesting mystery than an unassuming black number one that had a green outline and crossed over a white scar, which was another big question that Jace had had.
Relationships: Jace Beleren/Vraska
Comments: 6
Kudos: 24





	Counting on Fate

**Author's Note:**

> I had a bad day and needed some fluff so I wrote some. It might not be great but it is what I needed.
> 
> 'Counting on Fate' is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.

Since the first day he had woken up on the first island Jace had not spend much thought about the small little tattoo on his right wrist. The big white lines which marked most of his body were a much more interesting mystery than an unassuming black number one that had a green outline and crossed over a white scar, which was another big question that Jace had had.

He had noted that the tattoo seemed to have been done after he had gotten the scar since it was placed perfectly over it without any jagged lines. Maybe it was meant as a reminder of his first scar. Did he anticipate to get so many scars that he might have forgotten his first. Considering his back and the state of his mind it didn’t seem too far fetched.

The second time he paid attention to this little mark on his skin was when he had been given a bucket of water by a crew member of the Belligerent to clean himself up. It was the first time after leaving Useless Island that he had taken his glove off and he was surprised to find the number had changed. Instead of the number one it now displayed a five on his wrist.

His first thought was that it must have been magical, maybe even one of his own illusions, although he couldn’t think of a reason why his mind would unknowingly give himself an illusionary tattoo. _An illuttoo? No that just sounds stupid._

When he tried to will the tattoo to disappear though nothing happened. _Not an illusion_

Once he was done cleaning himself up as much as possible he started on his new quest to figure out what it could mean. His first stop was the ship’s physician, Henry as he was told, who wanted to take another look at Jace’s sunburn and give him some lotions that would help heal them quicker. 

From Henry he learned that there are some tattoo artists who have mastered the ability to enchant their dyes with magic to make them more vibrant or even change colour when one wills them to, so a tattoo changing its form shouldn’t be that impossible. 

But that still didn’t explain the purpose of the numbers. The number had been the same for the first month on the island and in only a couple of days it had risen by four. His first hypothesis was that it was counting the number of days he had spent on the sea, but this theory was quickly disproven the next morning when the number has gone up by two instead of one.

Over the next few days Jace kept track on the little mark checking every hour for a change and noting the differences whenever they occurred. Most of the time the tattoo changed during dinner times in the galley, going up by either one or two and Jace wondered if it was counting a specific food he was eating. He tested his hypothesis again by not eating anything during dinner the next day, but still the mark had increased and was now showing thirteen.

Jace was contemplating asking the captain if she knew what the tattoo meant, surely if anybody knew it would be her, she was the only one that had known him before. Still Jace didn’t want to ask her yet, either to not strain the friendship that was slowly starting to build between them, oh he wished to know what had happened between them in the past that made her wary of him, or if it was his stubbornness to solve this mystery by himself, he couldn’t say.

The first day that he was allowed outside onto the deck, he spent wandering the length of the ship taking in every detail of his temporary home. It was breathtaking, the crew worked in tandem controlling the sails, while Malcolm was perched high up on the crow’s nest looking into the distance.

The fresh sea air hit Jace and he decided he never wanted to go below deck again. Everything was intoxicating, the waves strong enough to pull him under water were harmlessly crashing against the ship. Shadows in the water teasing the idea of unknown entities down below and Jace wondered what all could be hidden under the surface when his eyes found the captain standing on her post giving orders to her crew.

She looked so confident and it was clear to Jace that she was in her element. All of her crew looked up to her and heeded every word, there was no arguing just her people following her orders but not in fear but respect. And Jace wanted to do nothing but ask her if he could join her crew as well, he didn’t wish to leave at the next port, he had nowhere to go, but here he felt like he could belong.

After staring at the captain for a bit too long Jace heard a soft gush of air next to him and saw the colourful siren navigator land by his side.

“You look overwhelmed, have you forgotten what the sun looked like?” Malcolm’s voice was a beautiful melody and Jace’s face flushed at the teasing tone behind those words.

“Come on, I will show you the ropes.” Jace immediately jumped at the offered invitation and eagerly listened to Malcolm explain the various important jobs the crew had to do, including his own as lookout and navigator. He watched with fascination the various ropes that secured the sails and how to control them manually if you hadn’t gotten a helmsmage around for that job. While Malcolm took Jace on a tour around the deck they passed Vraska, who was making her own rounds, multiple times.

After an hour of explanation Jace took a moment while Malcolm was talking to one of the crew to check his wrist again and was surprised that his counter had gone up by six. It was the biggest change so far and all that in an hour. What had changed, what was so special? It was his first time outside, but he had been outside on the island for a month without anything happening.

His new hypothesis was that it was location based, maybe it was something special about the ship. To test his theory he quickly excused himself from Malcolm and went up and down the length of the ship once and checked his wrist again and indeed the number had increased by one.

_Now I just have to narrow down the location._

Starting by the bow of the ship Jace slowly and meticulously made his way back towards the rear, checking his counter every ten meters for any change. When he got close to the bridge which currently was helmed by Edgar and Vraska herself Jace saw the number change again.

_Hmm location, it has to be the location. The galley is underneath the bridge so that would explain that. How exactly can I pinpoint it. Was I on this ship once before the island. Is it a special object that just has that effect. More tests, I need to do more tests._

Lost in his mind and eyes locked on his wrist Jace didn’t see the confused look Vraska was sending him as he turned around took ten steps away from the bridge and immediately returned again.

Jace repeated those steps five more times and each time the number on his arm went up. With every successful test his excitement of finally getting closer to solving this mystery increased and Jace started eagerly moving around the bridge from different angles.

After a couple more tests Jace had figured out two things. First the object has to have been the helm itself since every time he passed into a ten meter radius around it his tattoo reacted. And secondly that that did not explain the other instances his counter went up. He was sure Malcolm and he had not passed the helm six times on their tour.

Nevertheless Jace was not about to let that sour his new discovery. If he could find out what made the helm so special, maybe he could figure out what else his tattoo is reacting to.

His thought process was interrupted when Vraska walked up to him and gave him a questioning look.

“Any reason you are running around my ship?”

“Sorry Captain. I just.” He wondered if she would even be interested in his new discovery but the urge to share what he had uncovered was too strong.

\----------

Vraska wondered if it was really too much to wish that Jace would just stay below deck until they made port. He was running around her ship like an excited puppy and Vraska gave Malcolm a grateful nod when her friend decided to walk their guest around making sure he didn’t disrupt the crew.

Seeing Jace smile and laugh still felt out of place, she had thought of him for so long as a stingy man with too much power and no idea of how to use it properly that their civil conversations and his curious demeanour made her even more wary. He was acting like a friend, as if he didn’t care that she was a monster and she wondered when he will be back to who he was before. Was she making a mistake of making nice with him.

Over the next hour Vraska couldn’t help but keep a close eye on Jace, she reasoned that she only wanted to make sure he didn’t do anything to endanger her crew. It wasn’t long before curiosity got her as Jace diligently wandered about the ship all the while looking at his previously gloved wrist. She realised in that moment that she had never seen him take that glove of before, or having a glove on his other hand, even when she saw him back on Ravnica. _What is he hiding?_

When Jace started to circle around the helm in weird paths Vraska finally had enough and walked over the absentminded mage.

“Any reason you are running around my ship?”

“Sorry Captain. I just.” He started and Vraska wasn’t sure if he would continue until he showed her his wrist. The first thing Vraska saw was a thin white scar long healed. The assassin in her immediately noted that the line was too perfectly straight to have been an accident or to have happened during a fight. No, this sort of scar you only got when someone took the time to carefully cut into your flesh and the location left no doubt that it was chosen for maximising the pain.

“I think it has something to do with the helm, come I will show you.” Jace was pointing on the small black and green tattoo intersecting the scar, it was showing the number thirty nine. Having no idea what he was talking about Vraska decided to take a moment to humour him and followed him away from the bridge and back again.

“I think it is a magical counter. I just don’t know why it is reacting to the helm. See once I get this close it goes up by one.”

Vraska stared at his wrist which still showed the number thirty nine.

“It didn’t go up.” Jace sounded confused now. “But it has done it every time, what changed?”

_Maybe he has a heat stroke?_

Vraska was contemplating if she should get Henry or order Jace inside when the mind mage distanced himself from the helm again and return a moment later only to triumphantly show her his wrist again and indeed where before was a thirty five there now was a forty on his skin.

In her life Vraska had only ever seen one kind of tattoo that behaved like that and as far as she was aware it was only found on Ravnica. She had her own on the back of her shoulder. As a kid she had checked it daily only finding the light blue zero on her emerald skin. After the events in the prison she didn’t want to have another disappointment again and decided to stop her daily mirror routine. As she was getting some new attire fit for a captain, Vraska caught a glimpse of a single one on her shoulder and soon realised that the only thing more depressing than never meeting your soulmate was to pass them once and not even realise it.

“The only thing that changed was … you. Vraska, what if it’s not a location but a person. What if it is you. Do you know what that means, is it your magic that reacts with that?”

Jace went on laying out his theories and all Vraska could think was how ridiculous fate was. Of course her soulmate would be someone she tried to kill. Of course he would be someone who didn’t even realise what the tattoo meant and she could just leave him in the thought that it was her magic that is setting it off and not the fact that fate had decided they should be together.

_Fate has got to be wrong, right?_

“Captain?” Jace was looking at her with seeking eyes and she realised that she had been too quiet for too long.

Vraska was about to shut him down, to just play it off as nothing of importance, but the part of her that remembered how he listened to her told her not to throw away her hope just yet. Her gaze shifted down to his scar again, a mark so similar to the cuts and bruises she got from the abuse in the prison.

“Maybe I know what it is.” Vraska answered hesitantly and Jace’s eyes were bright with anticipation.

“And maybe someday I will tell you why it behaves that way.” Vraska paused and she could see Jace restrain himself from asking her to continue.

“But today is not that day.” She couldn’t give into the hope that maybe fate was right about him, but today she decided to not refuse hope at all.

Jace visible looked unsatisfied with her response, but he already knew better than to argue with the captain.

\----------

For the first time in twenty years Vraska decided to start her nightly ritual again. She had to will her smile away as she craned her neck to see a light blue forty on the back of her right shoulder stare back at her in the mirror.


End file.
